Craze - FabricLive.38Miami’s DJ Craze has long been a shoo-in for FabricLive, one of the last obvious choices as the series creaks toward its golden anniversary. FabricLive.38 is loaded with turntable trickery befitting the three-time World DMC champ and Fabric staple, and the tracklist seemingly tries to satisfy every kid who came to the club and danced their ass off to whatever he pulled out and chopped up. It’s an impressive balance of scratch technique, mixing skill, clever sequencing and major attitude. For the first half, that is, after which Craze’s mix loses the last, but equally essential ingredient to a top-shelf FabricLive mix: momentum.

Fans hoping to hear Craze scratch his drum n bass itch have little consolation here, besides a secret sample from last year’s anthem ‘Ladies Night VIP’ by Demo & Cease, and a loud ‘n proud intro by noted MC Armanni Reign. His smirky boast on behalf of Craze amps up into ‘Set It Off’ by New York rapper N.O.R.E. before settling down with two cool-as-a-cucumber tracks by old-school throwback rap duo The Cool Kids. After just four tracks he’s already scratched, cut, looped and beat juggled, which should make even the most frowny-faced, disappointed dnb heads crack a little smile.

So far, so good. All warmed-up and still effortlessly cool, MC Naeem Juwan of Bangers & Cash politely asks Craze, “Turn that beat up, nigga!” He probably wasn’t expecting to hear the Miami Vice theme, which seems grossly out of place but works perfect here, paying tribute to Craze’s home and underlining the mix’s overall ‘80s vibe. It also drops gorgeously into Miami Jam Crew’s ‘Pretty Girls’, which in turn makes a perfect beat for Blaqstarr & Rye Rye’s ‘Shake It To The Ground’ acapella.

At this point, the energy is through the roof and listeners should be eating up everything coming out of Craze’s golden hands. Coasting on his mix’s natural high, he glides it smoothly into the 4/4 beat of Chromeo’s ‘Bonafied Lovin’’, thoughtfully remixed by Eli Escobar with a hilarious rap courtesy of Pase Rock. But it’s not too long before the good vibes fade out, amidst the relentlessly cacophonous Switch remix of Coldcut’s ‘True Skool’. Here, Craze makes his mix’s first big mistake, by spinning out entirely on a Switch track and fading back in with a Bmore Club-infused soul song, which is exactly what Spank Rock did on their FabricLive.33 almost a year ago.

Making an unwelcome reappearance from Diplo’s FabricLive.24 is Debbie Deb’s bizarre electro-pop hybrid ‘When I Hear Music’, opening the door for Craze’s old-school Miami bass showcase, a quartet of tracks all sounding their age, none able to recapture the magic from the first half. ‘Lindsay Lohan’s Revenge’ shows up long after its expiration date—a mean-spirited, music blog novelty track that should’ve never, ever made it off the internets. It’s a toss-up for the worse half of Craze’s closeout: Kanye West sleep-rapping his way through the obligatory guest spot for ‘Pro Nails’ by Kid Sister, his tour DJ A-Trak’s girlfriend, or the stale message of hope to “keep pushin’, harder and harder to achieve whatever you tryin’ to achieve” from…Mr. “Ass-n-Titties” himself, the booty bouncing DJ Assault?! It’s a total crash ’n burn for a mix that started so pristine. Had Craze pinched it off after thirty minutes, this could’ve been golden, but as a full-length mix FabricLive.38 is only half-baked.

18 comments

Just listened to the mix until the end and thought it was fucking excellent, ok the old school miami bass tracks he drops about half way through are dated, but they still sound good. Highlights for me were 'Tuff Crew - My Part Of Town' Craze's DJ skills and the rhyme on the opening track ''call the boy Ricky Hatton cause he speaks with his hands' lol. 4 out of 5 for me.

quote:Posted by analordho fo sho is an amazing track though, is that an exclusive for the mix?

Here's what Craze said about it in an interview with Fabric:

"It's from the movie '40 Year Old Virgin.' It's something I made with my girl and one of her friends. I woke up one day and was like, "You know what.. I wanna start travelling with you more, let's do this Miami bass thing!" She's good on the mic, she knows how to carry a flow and she's fly as hell so we just thought, why not? It's gotten a good response, which I'm amazed about because it was just a joke! That's how things happen sometimes, you know... I might want to put it out myself, going the independent route."

I think that even if you are a fan of party mixes this one fell flat at the end...its ok to be a bit patchy, but this one had bad sections. It was especially accented because of the awesome energy of the intro, ho fo sho is an amazing track though, is that an exclusive for the mix?

I actually think the review description itself is quite good, I just think the rating is a bit too low and will deter people from actually checking it out. Like the reviewer agrees the first half is dope and should be listened to. Its just tough with these kinds of mixes because I don't know of very many that are truly solid all the way through...For example, I think the Diplo Fabric mix has some awesoms sections. Would love people to check it out but if it had gotten a 2 1/2 on because of some of the bad sections (Bombs Over Baghdad, the Ludacris tracks, the Cure section etc.) then people probably wouldn't check the good stuff on there (Gaiola Das Popuzadas, Model 500, Le Tigre etc.) Overall I'm not saying the reviewer is wrong, everything is based on opinion in the end. Just wanted to leave some comments so people maybe do end up giving this a few spins. Oh and if someone does know of mixes in this style that are legit for over 60 minutes pls hit us up with some names!

This is a well-written and very descriptive review that explains in detailed terms exactly how the release is flawed. You whingers just can't hack it when someone disses your precious music - take the hit. It's only someone's opinion, after all... All this insulting 'you just don't geddit' rubbish (when the review demonstrates the writer *does* get it) is just a cop out.

Why don't one of you Craze lovers paste in a counter review and/or explain why the mix is deserving of so much of your love?

Review is spot on, I loved tracks like Ho Fo Sho & Bonafied Lovin, but it falls apart half way through...By the time he dropped Earth, Wind & Fire it just reminded me to switch off and listen to Gilles P's indahouse CD2, ahh much better....

quote:Posted by Flynnyou just don't understand this kind of party culture.

That's not true. I am totally diz-own wit da partaaaaaaaaay (sub)cultcha. Just kidding. But I'm still certain Spank Rock and Craze didn't nail it on their respective FabricLives...overcalculated and eclectic for electic's sake are two descriptions that come to mind. Within the FL series Scratch Perverts' 22 and Diplo's 24 got the anything-goes party vibe down pretty nicely, but no one's done an A+ job of it yet.

Impossible? Probably not, just yet to come. There's definitely a place for party mixes a la Diplo's Pitchfork mix last October, the Radioclit and Goon & Koyote podcasts, etc. but that would be the internet, where they're free. I don't think FabricLive should get the same leverage since it's a CD series, part of a subscription for many people (like me) who have no say in what comes next. This trust in the "programmers" is part of the fun, but it can also amplify the bitterness felt if the mix sucks and you think:

quote:Posted by nickwarrenA waste of my £6.

Writing bad reviews for heavily flawed FLs like Craze's and Spank Rock's is what brings better ones in the future. Or at least, we hope so.